The New Jointer!

Each new project deserves a new tool. This time, I finally added a jointer to my collection. I bought an old ShopSmith jointer off ebay. Utilizing my existing ShopSmith motor alowed me to get a pretty solid jointer, at about 25% the cost of new stand alone jointers. Plus it will save space this way.


I spent most of the day flipping through the manual, re-aligning all the blades, the fence, and several other pieces. Once it was all ready to go, I turned it on and passed a practice board through. The cuts were impecable. I grabbed another scrap board and passed it through. This one made a weird sound. When I completed the pass I took a look at the edge and discovered a huge staple cut in half. Dumb! I had paid attention to every operational and safety proceedure in the manual. But somehow I forgot to check the board edge for foreign objects. And just like that, I had ruined my perfect blades. Unbelievable.


Fortunatly, I was able to move the fence and use the other end of the blades becaue I only needed to edge join. Boy, did I feel stupid.